This is another picture by my student who did the New Year’s sunrise picture. We had an unusual snowfall on Sunday. I say unusual because it doesn’t snow much in Tokyo anymore it seems. And when it does, the ground is usually too warm for the snow to stick. This time we collected about 5cm. This view is from his balcony (about a 20min walk from my place down the road). You can see the water on the leftside.

The thing about snow is that it melts. It started Monday and continued to Tuesday. I was sick the whole weekend and looked forward to peace these two day with my sons back at school. But Monday, ds#3 (my six year old) decided he had a tummy ache and didn’t want to go. Amazing, how five minutes after his big brothers left his tummy is well enough to be bouncing around the bedroom playing ninja. I took him to the doctor to learn it was a small case of constipation. [rolling eyes] Ds#1 (my 11 year old) came home with his nose dripping like a faucet. So, back to the doctor. The doctor says allergies, something I don’t want to hear. Let’s say no rest.

Tuesday arrives. Ds#2 (my 9 year old) leaves early for soccer practice before school. I then have the other two to get out the door. Finally, a little before eight they’re on their way. Peace, at last. I sit down, thinking about the coffee I’m going to make and what I want for breakfast when the phone rings. It’s ds#2′s teacher. He slipped on the minimum of snow that still existed in patches and put a nice bump on his forehead. So long coffee and morning meal. I go to school to see the goose egg and decide I should probably get it checked. So off to the doctor AGAIN. A nice long wait, X-rays, more waiting, and a nine year old who does his variation of “Are we there yet?”, except it’s “Can we go now? followed by “I don’t want to go back to school.”

Can the day get any worse? Of course. I have to run around getting errands run, miss meeting a friend because we go to different places, then have to get all three boys to the dentist. The kicker is dh who decides to be concerned parent over the two-left-feet second son (despite my telling him said son was fine) and forgets his key, but since I forgot to tell him we had the dental appt., he waited an hour in the cold for us to come home.

Ah, blessed snow, you gotta love it!